highest standards of ethical conduct. that requirement did not appear in the contract of her predecessor, dominique strauss-kahn, who stepped down in may after being charged with sexual assault. >> also said she's entitled to a reasonable amount of vacation. i wonder what that means. kong. christi lou stout in hong kong. "american morning" begins right now. good morning to you. i'm kiran chetry. let's get you caught up on what's happening. the jury says casey anthony is a liar, but not a murderer. we'll have reaction this morning to the stunning verdict from lawyers on both sides. our legal experts, as well as an alternate juror who says his colleaguing got it right. >> good morning. i'm christine romans. new developments in another high-profile case attorneys for dominique strauss-kahn preparing to meet with prosecutors today. we're live with new details. >> 27 days until "d" day, "d" stands for default. president obama is taking new steps to try to broker a deal.

we're live at the white house on this "american morning." welcome, glad you're with us this morning. it is wednesday, july 6th. i'm sure like you all, like the rest of the country, we were riveted yesterday, 2:15 was the time that verdict came in, not guilty in the casey anthony trial. >> i heard that there were people in the streets who don't even follow the stuff and stopped and went to the first place for tv. >> i was at the dentist and the place stopped business. a liar but not a murderer. the verdict few people expected, casey anthony acquitted of capital murder, manslaughter and child abuse in the death of her 2-year-old daughter caylee. a florida jury deliberating for just under 11 hours, convicted her only on four misdemeanor counts of lying to police. >> casey anthony will be sentenced tomorrow and because of the time that she's already spent behind bars, anthony could be released as early as that. we have reaction to the stunning

verdict beginning with david mattingly live in orlando. good morning, david. >> good morning, ali. in less than 24 hours, casey anthony went from being a pathological liar to a woman who may soon be set free. >> we the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> reporter: tears of joy from a young woman on trial for her life, casey anthony, the mother, so many saw as a child murderer, avoids the death penalty and may soon walk free. also vindicated, her much criticized attorney, jose baez. >> while we're happy for casey, there are no winners in this case. caylee has passed on, far, far too soon, and what my driving force has been for the last three years has been always to make sure that there has been justice for caylee and casey.

because casey did not murder caylee, it's that simple. >> reporter: but how the jury rejected the prosecution's claim that casey killed her child caylee with chloroform and duct tape and dumped her body in a swamp is a mystery. afterward not one of the 12 jurors would speak. prosecutors appeared stunned. >> we're disappointed with the verdict today and surprised because we know the facts and we put in absolutely every piece of evidence that existed. >> reporter: but it wasn't enough. casey anthony's parents, enduring accusations on the stand of lying and her father accused by casey of molesting her, left quietly showing no emotion. their attorney released a statement. despite the baseless defense chosen by casey anthony, the family believes that the jury made a fair decision. deputies patrolled the neighborhood where the anthonys live. the orange county sheriff appealed for calm.

>> we ask for your continued peaceful acknowledgement of that verdict. >> reporter: and casey anthony back in court tomorrow where she would be sentence thed for the counts of lying to investigators. those are misdemeanors. she could walk out of there after a free woman after time she's already served. >> david, thank you for that. we'll stay on top of the new developments. certainly more to talk about in this case. >> in another surreal scene the 12 chairs open and a microphone sitting up front waiting for the jury to talk if they wanted to and they all chose not to. the casey anthony jurors are not talking. one of the five alternates did agree to talk and sat through the deliberations, did not take part in the deliberation part but sat through the entire trial in case somebody couldn't be there for the dlig bragss and agrees with the verdict. he said the case raised many questions about how casey anthony and her family behaved

but evidence of murder was not there. >> this is a very dysfunctional family. they did not handle things well at all. yes, we all believe and i'm pretty sure i can say this for all 176 us, there was some type of accident, but overall i think the family knows a lot more than what they're -- what came out at the trial but they didn't prove that there was a murder. >> a little bit of insight into what was going on in the minds of the jurors. he was not part of the deliberations, but heard all of the same evidence that the others did. following the defense team's victory one of casey anthony's lawyers, cheney mason took direct aim at those he claims tried and convicted anthony in the media. >> i hope that this is a lesson to those of you who have been indulged in media assassination for three years, bias and

prejudice, and incompetent talking heads saying what would be and how to be. i'm disgusted by some of the lawyers that have done this. and i can tell you that my colleagues from coast to coast and border to border, have condemned this whole process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases that they don't know a dam thing about and don't have the experience to back up their words or the law to do it. now you've learned a lesson. >> very interesting choice of first comments. >> i thought it was odd too. he used it to sort of say -- as opposed to a two and a half year old still dead. >> when jose baez came in to speak that came up. the question does remain, was this case lost by the prosecution or won by a good defense? how did this defense prevail? joining us sunny hostin, former federal prosecutor and legal contributor for "in session" on trutv, and linda kenny bodden,

former member of casey anthony's legal team. linda, let's start with you. was this won by the defense or lost by the prosecution? >> both. the prosecution overreached. they didn't have the forensics. they got fantasy forensics as jose said, forensics never used on this planet, maybe in mars, but not here. >> referring to the smell test. >> the smell, the hair banding, the fact they didn't tell the jury that mr. kronk had moved the bag and the contents had fallen out, tri to sell the jury on a prosecution -- and jurors aren't stupid. they want to figure things out themselves. they don't want to be force fed. >> this is an interesting issue, sunny. we heard a lot more than that jury heard. >> that's right. >> i don't know that we heard that much more, actually. i think this case was really transparent because of the cameras in the courtroom, because there was a good judge a very good judge, a good prosecution team, a good defense team, and i don't think that we heard so much more. i mean a lot of this evidence came in and linda just said, i was surprised at some of the forensic evidence that came in

that hadn't really been tested in a court of law. i don't know that we heard -- >> dna 20 years ago and now it's -- >> no, this is different. >> but this is my question about it. how is public opinion so wildly different than what this jury saw? >> i think you heard cheney mason talk about it. she has been tried in the media. the local media started three years ago, she's a killer, irresponsible baby killer on tv, this is outrageous. this is a jury that heard the evidence and embracing them. >> from the beginning you were saying this is a circumstantial case and it's always difficult to try a circumstantial case. the two of you are competent to talk. >> thank you very much. >> i would say we have the experience to -- >> you have the experience to back it up and you were clear from the beginning that this was a circumstantial case and that's difficult to prove. >> they're very difficult to prove. i've said from the very beginning there was no direct evidence tying casey anthony to this crime, no one was going to get up on the witness stand and say casey anthony, i saw kill caylee anthony, and the burden of proof is very high in a

criminal case, it's beyond a reasonable doubt. not any doubt, but beyond a reasonable doubt. if you have a defense team that's putting forth other plausible theories or if a jury thinks there are other theories this kind of case typically crumbles. >> the bottom line, an immense amount of work went into the defense, you consulted on the defense team. >> right. >> i know that the prosecution -- people were saying they put together a meticulous closing argument, they ran through everything, they were getting accolades, and ten hours later they come back with a verdict. that was shocking to a lot of people that after months, i mean they were sequestered for two months. within ten hours. did they have their minds made up is. >> no. it was very clear that prosecution didn't prove the case and it was clear they overreached. they went for the death penalty. the death penalty is for people like osama bin laden and ted bundy serial killers. not a 25-year-old girl who lost a child, who clearly was a wonderful mother. >> let me say this about the ten hours. a jury that was sequestered for

several weeks, six weeks, so this is a jury that already knew each other, already knew each other's families, about each other's families, knew about each other's likes and dislikes. they didn't have to do any of that. they needed to talk about the case. you have ten hours. that's a long time to talk ate one issue. we're only talking about this a couple minutes. jose baez, nobody knew who this guy was before this case started and frankly, if you -- i went through and read everything again about what people have been saying about him through the course of the trial, most people thought he wasn't particularly experienced, all of a sudden this guy is a bit of a hero. >> he is f. lee bailey. he knew what he didn't know, called in people with great expert opinions. i was on the case, had been practicing 30 years, i hate to say that because that dates me a little bit and he had his heart and soul and passion. >> he did make mistakes and a lot said they were rookie mistakes in court. >> he made some mistakes but

everybody makes some mistakes. he's been bashed and i think if his name were john dough you wouldn't see that bashing. >> what did you think of jose baez. >> you can't put -- write a check you can't cash which he did and it worked. >> but perhaps he's crazy like a fox, right? perhaps there's a method to his madness. his spe his sweet spot is speaking to the jury. every time he went in and said good morning, they said good morning. you relate to people. and they liked him. >> respected him more. >> and they believed him and liked him. >> file a motion right away to get her out? >> i don't think so. i thought it was odd because she is looking at four years and she served about three. if she gets convicted -- not convicted sentenced to all four years consecutively, i think, am i right, she would still have to perhaps serve a couple months? >> i don't know what is left on her check charges she's doing time for. there's a little bit of time. they need time to figure out

where to place her also. >> truly a remarkable saga. thank you, linda kenny bodden and sunny hosten. >> our question of the day. what's next for casey anthony? her immediate future as we have been talking about will be determined tomorrow and her sentencing 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning on the four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators. brings us to the question of the day, do you believe casey anthony's acquittal was the result of a good defense or a poor prosecution? >> we've had the answer both. so you have to choose one or the other. >> send us an e-mail, tweet, or tell us on facebook and we will read your thoughts later in the morning. important developments in the case surrounding dominique strauss-kahn. a source tells cnn attorneys for the former imf chief will meet the prosecutors today. the meeting comes after prosecutors disclosed that they had uncovered credibility issues with the maid accusing strauss-kahn of sexually assaulting her inside his manhattan hotel suite in may. she is suing "the new york post" for accusing her of being a prostitute. a somali terror suspect being secretly held on a navy

ship for two months in the persian gulf, now in a new york courtroom yesterday. accused of being a middle man between a somali terror group and the al qaeda in the arabian group based in yem. en. prosecutors say he received explosives training from al qaeda. he pleaded not guilty. a state of emergency in seven montana counties after an exxon mobil pipeline ruptured causing tens of thousands of oil to gush into the yellowstone river. the governor is blasting the oil giant for what he calls a slow response. oil has been defected 90 miles from the leak site. more resources will be added until the river is restored. this weekend when they were talking downplaying the significance, once again downplaying the significance of oil. >> we meaning the media, largely, needs to not fall for that. the first thing that these oil companies say is, no damage to anybody, it's contained and no wildlife. why don't we just forget that part. >> river was high and running

fast was going to break up the oil. now you have an emergency in seven counties. >> oil leaks -- >> frustrating. >> it gets places. that's the bottom line about this. top aide to congresswoman gabrielle giffords is back on the job six months after she was shot in the same shooting in sueson. ron barber was standing next to giffords when accused gunman jared loughner opened fire during a public event. shot in the cheek and thigh, he's still having a little trouble walking but returned to work yesterday on a part-time basis and told co-workers the only thing that could make his return better would be to see congresswoman giffords walk through the door. >> up next on "american morning," president obama putting new pressure now on lawmakers to get moving on negotiations over raising the debt ceiling. we're live at the white house with this. >> flights delayed as day turned to night over the phoenix area. check this out. incredible pictures of a massive wall of dust. we'll show it to you when we come back. ♪

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18 minutes past the hour. a new move by president obama to try to break the stalemate over the rising -- over raising the nation's debt ceiling and preventing what could turn into a new crisis for the economy. he invited congressional leaders to the white house to discuss it tomorrow. >> brianna keilar is live at the white house. i'm not sure what the change of setting does or what this is supposed to achieve. at this point everybody involved in discussion should know what the consequences are. what is the president trying to do? >> the president is trial trying to get people here and talking. i think the thing to keep note of is a lot of what's going on is behind the scenes. you have democrats and republicans being quiet about it. yesterday what we saw is president obama making a rare appearance in the briefing room, this is the second time in a week that they came and spoke to reporters and he said, after

days now of talking with congressional leaders, democrats and republicans, he said they've made real progress but also that there are real differences and he announced this meeting tomorrow. here's what he said he hopes for it. >> it's my hope that everybody is going to leave their ultimatums at the door, we'll all leave our political rhetoric at the door and do what's best for our economy and our people. >> so publicly, though, it seems like not much has changed, ali, and i sense that when you tell me what is he really trying to achieve with this. we saw him come out last wednesday in this press conference, we saw democrats and republicans over past days, trading barbs. we know they continue to have this impasse over tax increases. democrats want some, don't want to just go along with the spending cuts republicans want. behind the scenes there are a lot of discussions. late last night right before going to bed, i found out that the president had met in person with speaker boehner over the

weekend. so there are meetings going on, kind of back channel meetings, and details are very, very slim at this point. >> all right. brianna keilar, i would say we'll keep our fingers crossed, but i don't know if that helps at this point. >> how about that. >> we're running out of walls to bang our head against as we figure out when we're going to bump our head against the debt ceiling. >> it's like we're lost in a mighty haboob. >> that brings in jacqui jeras. haboob is the word of the day. >> what's the difference between a haboob and a regular sandstorm. >> pretty much the same thing. haboob is a severe event. take a look at this video. this reached up to 10,000 feet in the air and at one point, was as much as 50 miles wide. so it's created by strong winds associated with a thunderstorm and just caused extreme conditions, almost zero visibility. lots of trees down too, by the way. about 8,000 people in the phoenix area without power.

and, of course, it grounded flights for several hours. there were delays throughout much of the night. take a look here, too, as the radar, just to put this in perspective for you, here's tucson where the storm started and moved it ways towards phoenix and continued to push off towards the east. more of those monsoonal thunderstorms will be possible in the southwest today as that moisture streams into the area. we'll also watch for thunderstorms in parts of the midwest, into the southeast and even in the northeast. places like boston could have some isolated severe thunderstorms. it's going to be a hot, sticky day for a whole lot of people. 90s up and down the eastern seaboard. still looking at the triple digits in the southern plain states. hot and sticky weather with thunderstorms east and west all across the u.s. today. it's going to be another rough one. i know you love to say it. >> haboob! way better than sand wall or sandstorm. >> it is, absolutely. and you know, a lot of people learn something new today. >> i did. i did not know what that word meant. thank you. did you know that word?

had you heard that word before? >> how much money do you make for saying it? five bucks. >> no. that was just not on camera i'm not giving everybody five bucks for saying it. if it has a way to work itself into a story -- some cnn executive will catch on to it, why do you keep saying haboob. >> no one tell a cnn haboexecut. >> up next, the days of getting all your video on the internet, the downloads you want on your cell phone are going away. >> which carrier is eliminating the unlimited data plan. also cheating, test results too good to be true. a stunning investigation into systemwide cheating in a major city's school system. >> who's doing the cheating will surprise you. 22 minutes after the hour.

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minding your business this morning. investors on edge about financial instability in europe. stock futures trading lower after moody's downgraded portugal's credit rating to junk and markets closed almost flat yesterday. president obama inviting democratic and republican leaders to a meeting at the white house thursday. thursday. to discuss raising the debt ceiling. if lawmakers can't come to an agreement by august 2nd the treasury department says it will not be able to pay all of its bills on time. a facebook about to unveil what it calls something awesome. so far the social network won't say exactly what it has in store for today's announcement but the buzz is it's some sort of partnership with skype. twitter shopping for another round of private financing according to the "wall street journal" this morning. the funds could value the company as high as $7 billion. verizon wireless customers

say good-bye to unlimited data plans. starting thushgs the company joins its competitors t-mobile and at&t in eliminating that option. existing customers with the plan get to keep it. this will only apply to new customers. netflix is expanding internationally to 43 countries in latin america and the caribbean. members will have access to movies and shows in spanish, portuguese and english. "american morning" will be right back after this break with new developments in the dominique strauss-kahn case in new york. it's 27 minutes after the hour. ! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories. really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i---

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30 minutes after the hour. time to check your top stories. casey anthony could be released from jail as early as tomorrow. she was convicted of lying to police but could be sentenced to time already served. the jury acquitted anthony of murder, manslaughter and child

abuse charges in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. an oil spill in montana's yellowstone river forced the state's governor to declare a state of emergency in seven counties. 42,000 of gallons of oil leaked friday night. governor schweitzer is blasting the oil giant for what he calls a lackluster response. exxon mobil says 350 workers are involved in the cleanup and more resources will be added until the oil is gone. and tomorrow, president obama invites leaders from both parties to the white house to try to hammer out a deal on raising the debt ceiling. the white house telling lawmakers neither side will get everything they want and the president says he's opposed to a a short-term increase in the debt ceiling. the u.s. case against dominique strauss-kahn continues to fall apart. today cnn is learning that strauss-kahn's lawyers are set to have a meeting with prosecutors, a sit down comes after questions surfaced last week about whether the accuser was completely truthful with investigators. all of this happening as another woman, this time in france,

comes forward with claims that she was sexually assaulted by dominique strauss-kahn eight years ago. joining us from paris is christopher dicky, for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." good to see you christopher. >> always a pleasure, kiran. >> talk about this meeting that strauss-kahn's lawyers are set to have with prosecutors today about the case. there was some talk that, perhaps, the d.a. would be preparing to drop this case against him. they indicated they're not prepared to do that at this stage. what may become of today's meeting? >> a plea bargain might be what's coming. certainly the district attorney cyrus vance, has been very embarrassed by this case. he doesn't want to give it up altogether so he may allow strauss-kahn or encourage strauss-kahn to plead guilty to some misdemeanor which would not involve any kind of jail time and probably involve some kind of minimal fine. but i don't think that strauss-kahn's lawyers are going to go for that. certainly the friends of strauss-kahn that i've talked

to, say that he wants some kind of arrangement that he can portray as a complete vindication. and we just don't know if that's going to happen or not. >> that's the interesting thing. he was somebody viewed as a potential presidential candidate in france, even if he pleas to a misdemeanor that certainly hurts him in terms of his reputation. >> well, it does. but you know, the french press today is full of stories saying that the district attorney is just going to drop the charges. i don't think that's true, or at least not yet. that certainly is what strauss-kahn's people want, but you know, we haven't even heard from strauss-kahn, his version of what happened in that room. we've heard all kinds of speculation. we've heard hints and sort of faptss and nods from his attorneys, that maybe there was some kind of consensual sexual contact, but we don't know what his version of events is. so he's trying to have a where

he never tells us and everything is based on the lack of credibility of the alleged victim. that's that seems to be the direction they're headed in you wrote an article for "the daily beast" there was a rush to judgment against strauss-kahn. people are judging, as you said, the d.a.'s office pretty harshly. the interesting thing when you read about what sources are saying, this accuser's story was so compelling harden investigators were brought to tears, that this story, she kept that story very straight and that she kept along the same lines for several days and then all of a sudden we hear it falling apart because of the jailhouse phone call. where did things go wrong here? >> well, i think there are two things that are really, really disturbing to the prosecutors and to the police in what they found out over the last couple of weeks. one certainly was a jailhouse conversation, a call that she had with a friend, maybe a boyfriend, or a relative in

arizona who's there in prison on drug charges and they were talking in some way -- we don't have the exact transcript, we don't have the exact translation, but they are alleged to have been talking about the possibility that she could make money off of this incident, a day after it's supposedly happened. that was certainly a problem. the other thing that really disturbed prosecutors is that in her asylum claim in 2004, she had claimed to have been raped and she had rehearsed that story so that she was able to tell it over and over again and bring people to tears then. you put her on the stand, and you introduce that fact and then you say okay, how is that different from your account of what happened in room 2806 of the sofitel with dominique strauss-kahn and you don't have a case anymore. >> as it turns out she was false fiing that claim in 2004 about being the victim of rape? >> it's not -- it's not just that it was kiran, not just that

it was falsified, it's that she was able to give a dramatic account of it again and again, very much as she gave a dramatic account of strauss-kahn's encounter again and again. that was hugely damaging to the case. >> you mentioned not getting a chance to hear the recorded conversation, her attorney, the accuser's attorney, is also complaining about that saying the d.a. is, a, refusing to meet with him, and he will not allow the client or the lawyer to hear for themselves this recorded conversation. what is the obligation of the d.a. to let her attorneys in on that? >> well, i'm not a lawyer, but i don't think that there is the same kind of obligation there that the d.a. has vis-a-vis the defense attorneys for strauss-kahn because the defendant, i'm sorry, the victim is not a defendant in this case. >> right. >> she is the witness. she's the victim. so this will come up. this will go into the courts and other fashions. you've seen already that she has filed through her attorney a

lawsuit against "the new york post" for calling her a prostitute. there's all of that is going to be in play. eventually this will surface and we may see that it doesn't really sound exactly the way it's being portrayed in the press. right now we're going on what one unnamed source says this conversation was sort of like. we don't have the exact transcript of the conversation at all. and it was in a language that's very hard to translate. >> all right. so obviously much more to this. this will continue as we said. there's a meeting today with the -- with dsk's attorneys as well as the d.a. thanks so much for joining us this morning. the obama administration reversing a white house policy of not sending condolence letters to families of troops who commit suicide in a war zone. it comes after a bipartisan group of senators asked the president to change this long-standing policy. a white house statement says, quote, the president feels strongly that we need to destigmatize the mental health

costs of war to prevent these tragic deaths and changing this policy is part of that process. it's a scandal that may have kept 12,000 kids from getting the extra help they need. investigators say 80% of atlanta's schools cheated on state standardized tests, faking scores and changing wrong answers to show fake improvement. investigators said 178 teachers and principals, 178 teachers and princip principals, were involved in the cheating scandal. 80 have already confessed. >> back in my day, you had it to cheat to get them to give you higher grades. now these ones are giving kids higher grades. day seven of the canadian tour, they will visit slave lake, a central alberta town, devastated by a wildfire in may, burned up the town. prince william and his bride catherine spent yesterday in the northwest territories where they meet with ab bore ridgeal leaders and elders. he tried his hand at street

hockey. they will head to los angeles friday for a weekend visit to the united states. christine made the point yesterday that it's all been about kate and her fashion sense. this guy has been landing a helicopter in the water and playing hockey. >> speaking french. >> hey, i can do stuff too trip. >> she was dropping the puck and getting out of dodge. the final shuttle launch set for friday morning. nasa's next move. how the space agency is planning to keep an eye on the past to transition into the future. it's 39 minutes past the hour. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein!

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42 minutes past the hour. a new study finds in a non-emergency situation nearly half of all procedures to widen a blocked or partially blocked artery, may be unnecessary. researchers say that reducing the number of unneeded angioplasties would not only save hundreds if not billions of dollars, but would also help patients avoid potentially serious side effects including blood clots as well as post-operative bleeding. a golf ball a dust buster and curling iron have in common. they've benefitted from space technology. the team at nasa has performed

amazing feats in outer space and the technology they've discovered to use out there has improved our lives on earth. nasa calls them spinoff, commercial products that came about because of space research. one early nasa invention was memory foam used to lessen impact during landing in aircraft seats. now it's used in sports and protective padding like helmets, shin guards and baseball chest protectors. okay. nasa also inspired inventions in medical science. for instance, devices like the artificial heart and the artificial hip joint. one that many parents are thankful for is the in ear thermometer, based off infrared technology used to measure the temperature of stars. space science has given us better eyesight, straighter teeth, better hair, hasn't really helped me on that front, a special coating to protect equipment, led to scratch resistant eyeglasses. research into ceramics helped create invisible praises and

hair style tools like curling irons and flat irons. golf balls and dust busters, back in the '90s a former nasa researcher used aerodynamic technology to design a new golf ball that optimizes distance and accuracy. a portable tool to collect samples inspired the miniature vacuum. christine? >> you talking about flat irons and curling irons something i never thought i would see on morning television. up to a million spectators are expected to attend the final launch of the space shuttle friday morning. as the program heads into retirement, nasa plans to transition to the future by keeping an eye on the past. the space agency will be developing a new capsule to take humans into deep space. john zarrella live from the kennedy space center this morning. what's the plan when this mission is over in a little two weeks from now? >> good morning, christine. well the plan is, for nasa to go outward, you know, maybe to an asteroid, maybe to mars, but the problem is, when are they going

to go, how much is it going to cost, are they going to go ever? >> reporter: surrounded by the blackness of deep space, 117 million miles from earth, is the asteroid vesta. images captured by a nasa probe. in the not t-too-distant future u.s. astronauts could be looking out their window at a sight just like this. >> i can either float along it or i can have it tethered to me and i can sample rocks, i can chip a rock. >> reporter: astronaut mike and his team are working on the kinds of equipment and techniques they'll need for human exploration of an asteroid as early as 2025. before either the moon or mars. >> what we're doing is building a simulated asteroid under water. >> reporter: and this is not some high-tech laboratory. it's key largo, florida.

beneath the surface at the site of an undersea habitat called aquarius, they have created an asteroid proving ground in the near weightless environment of water. >> we work there, we live there, we can put anchors, we built a rock wall like a climbing wall. we can climb up that wall in zero gravity. >> reporter: with the shuttle era over, nasa is going back to going outward. what most everyone agrees it does best. the asteroid could be the first stop, a baby step, because there's no gravity and an asteroid will be closer, it's simply an easier first mission than mars. once you get to mars or the moon or an asteroid how are you going to get around? how about this? a multi mission space exploration vehicle. in five years, he hopes to see his vehicle attached to the space station's robotic arm. with astronauts living in it and

spacewalking from it. a good test. but before it can go any further out like to an asteroid there's one big problem. getting it there. jeff greson was a member of president obama's blue ribbon committee on the future of exploration. greasen worries it may never go anywhere. >> a very expensive thing for massa to maintain. the result is if nasa does develop this launch vehicle there will be no budget to do anything with it. >> reporter: the man commanding the last shuttle flight worries too, talk of trips back to the moon and on to mars have always been, well, just talk. >> mars is always 20 years in the future. it's been 20 years in the future for the last 30 years. i'd like to see how committed we are this time. >> reporter: now the real concern right now is that because there may not be a national will down the road to do these things, that ultimately the united states is going to

get left behind. nasa insists that's not going to happen. but people like greasen told us, look, the real worry is that china is going gangbusters with their space program and they could ultimately end up sending humans back to the moon, perhaps to the asteroid, before nasa ever does it. and some people say, that might not be a bad thing because just like what happened with sputnik, that could finally be the inspiration to get the united states back, really back, into the space business if somebody else does something really grand before the united states does it. christine. >> john, you don't want to fall behind because you get in competition. that's the concern of people who are proponents of space. >> if you're five or ten years behind, you could lose all the advantage. >> oh, absolutely. there's no question about it. but it is a genuine concern that the american public won't have the resolve that politicians

won't have the resolve, to do these big-picture missions to go outward and that we will, ultimately, get left behind if we're not careful. >> john zarrella. >> thank you. >> i'm going to be with john, you know that, right? >> you're heading down there, right? down to the launch. >> take lots of pictures. >> 30 years after the space shuttle program began, "atlantis's" flight to the space station -- i love that. see that rocket, what do you think of that? >> i wasn't looking for the rocket. >> do that one more time. >> i was listening to your words. >> look over here in a second and you'll see it. here it comes. look at that. watch. >> watch, kiran. >> oh, man. >> love that. >> this is going to be mission 135. nasa's final mission, special coverage begins friday morning right here on "american morning." we have to show you something else really cool ahead on "american morning." this guy has the edge certainly a fan who was pulled on the stage to play with u2 and has an incredible back story as well.

it's 50 minutes past the hour.

51 minutes past the hour. here's a look at your headlines this morning. freedom could be just a day away for casey anthony. a jury finding her not guilty of murdering her daughter caylee. anthony was convicted of four counts, misdemeanor counts, of lying to investigators. she could be released on time already served at her sentencing tomorrow. cnn is learning that attorneys for dominique

strauss-kahn will meet with prosecutors today in new york city. we'll have more on that. meantime the president inviting congressional leaders from both parties to the white house tomorrow to try to kickstart talks to increase the nation's debt ceiling. the house -- the white house warns the limits have to be increased by august 2nd to prevent the u.s. from defaulting on its loans. montana's governor declaring a state of emergency in seven counties after an exxon mobil pipeline ruptured spilling 42,000 of gallons of oil into the river. the environmental agency and coast guard is trying to figure out what caused that pipeline to rupture as well as assessing the damage. jury selection begins today in the perjury trial for pitching great roger clemens, accused of lying to congress when he said he never used performance enhancing drugs. here hurricane-force winds kicking up in the desert. a massive sandstorm grounding flights in the phoenix area. the cloud rising thousands of

feet in the air, stretched over 30 miles. caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" is back after a quick break.

the chance of a lifetime for one fan of the u2 show. they pull somebody up usually every show, somebody on stage. a blind man in the crowd holding up a sign saying he wanted to play a song for his wife. >> during u2's encore, bono said get this guy a guitar. he guided him up on stage and grabbed the mike. and the rest is rock and roll history 37 ♪ you say you give me

♪ a river in a time of dryness a harbor all the promises we made ♪ >> that's amazing. i mean he played along perfectly with bono. >> what are the lines, light in the world of blindness. >> bono let him keep the guitar, made specifically for him. >> he's a great guy. >> yeah. >> must be the thrill of a lifetime to go on stage. >> i wouldn't know how great a guy he was, the only time i was around him was here with you guys and you didn't let me get in 50 feet of him. >> you were here that day? >> bono wouldn't let you get within 50 feet of us. >> bono wanted to be around us. >> you got great pictures with him. i got a picture saying this is the day bono was at cnn. >> you're going to the shuttle launch, come on. >> i'm not going on the shuttle.

like a million people at the launch. i'll be there. >> the not guilty verdict stunned about everyone watching yesterday when it came down at 2:15 eastern time. was casey anthony's defense team that good or did prosecutors give jurors a reason to doubt her guilt? >> and that's our question of the day this morning. do you believe casey anthony's acquittal was a result of a good defense or poor prosecution? >> we start with melody colins on facebook i believe the jury's decision was a lack of a solid evidence which made the prosecution's case weak and left too much room for doubt. the jury made the open decision possible according to the law. the defense was good at creating more doubt but was not any better than the prosecution. >> on facebook as well, hope says i believe casey anthony's acquittal was a result of a good defense. i thought the prosecution did an amaze be job and personally thought they had it. the defense did prove there was a reasonable doubt so the jury had to find her not guilty on three of the seven charges. what i like about hoke, he admits he thought it was going the other way. on twitter everybody knew it was

going to happen this way. >> yesterday i had nobody telling me she was getting off. >> would she get the death penalty or down to manslaughter. jason on the blogs, casey anthony's aquital was based out of poor prosecution. emotions aside, not enough hard science to prove casey murdered her daughter. immaturity like entering a hot body contest and a tattoo isn't enough to convict someone. >> send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook. we'll read more of your thoughts throughout the show. your top stories coming up after a quick break. it's three minutes to the top of the hour. we'll be right back.

[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. did the casey anthony -- did casey anthony get away with murder? a jury acquitting anthony of the most serious charges in the death of her 2-year-old daughter caylee. she could be released from custody as early as tomorrow. more on that on this "american morning." good morning, everybody. welcome to "american morning." it is wednesday, july 6th. >> lot of people want to hear from the jurors and say how did they come to the decision that they came to, ten hours of deliberations, obviously unanimous. >> they for the moment are not talking. >> up first, the casey anthony

verdict proving to be one of the most divisive in years. passions running high outside of the courthouse where you saw people literally crying, holding up signs, baby killer. people were extremely personally invested in this one case of this one highly dysfunctional family and what the outcome was for this young mother. the jury deliberated about ten to 11 hours before delivering their verdict. >> anthony acquitted of murder, manslaughter and child abuse charges in the death of her daughter. she was convicted of lying to police. she could be released as early as tomorrow. cnn's david mattingly is live in orlando for us. good morning, david. >> good morning, ali. in a case that has been so full of unpredictable twists and turns, yesterday's verdict still managed to surprise millions. >> we the jury find the defendant not guilty. >> reporter: tears of joy from a à young woman on trial for her life, casey anthony, the mother, so many saw as a child murderer, avoids the death penalty and may soon walk free.

also vindicated, her much criticized attorney, jose baez. >> while we're happy for casey, there are no winners in this case. caylee has passed on, far, far too soon, and what my driving force has been for the last three years has been always to make sure that there has been justice for caylee and casey. because casey did not murder caylee, it's that simple. >> reporter: but how the jury rejected the prosecution's claim that casey killed her child caylee with chloroform and duct tape and dumped her body in a swamp is a mystery. afterward not one of the 12 jurors would speak. prosecutors appeared stunned. >> we're disappointed with the verdict today and surprised because we know the facts and we

put in absolutely every piece of evidence that existed. >> reporter: but it wasn't enough. casey anthony's parents, enduring accusations on the stand of lying and her father accused by casey of molesting her, left quietly showing no emotion. their attorney released a statement. despite the baseless defense chosen by casey anthony, the family believes that the jury made a fair decision. deputies patrolled the neighborhood where the anthonys live. the orange county sheriff appealed for calm. >> we ask for your continued peaceful acknowledgement of that verdict. >> reporter: and casey anthony will be back in court tomorrow. she faces a sentencing for those four counts of lying to investigators. those are misdemeanors, they each carry a maximum penalty of one year. it's possible she could go free tomorrow based on the time that she's already served.

>> david, thank you very much for that. david mattingly for us in orlando. we know that casey anthony jurors are not talking this morning. one of the five alternates, though, who sat through the trial but did not take part in deliberations he says he agrees with this verdict. he says the case raised many questions about how casey anthony and her family behaved, but evidence of murder? he says just wasn't there. >> this is a very dysfunctional family. and they did not handle things well at all. yes, we all believe and i'm pretty sure i can this for all 17 of us, there was some type of horrific accident but overall i think the family knows a lot more than what came out at the trial. they didn't prove that there was a murder. >> so how did casey anthony manage to beat the death penalty and what happens now? joining us is sunny hostin,

former federal prosecutor and legal contributor for "in session" on trutv and a criminal defense attorney. great to see you this morning. all the papers, one no justice, the other not guilty as sin, the "usa today" about how the case fell apart. we talked about this before, there was no forensic evidence directly linking casey anthony to her daughter's murder. can people get convictions, can prosecutors get convictions in this day and age without that? >> absolutely. a lot of cases are circumstantial. certainly when you have a murder, sometimes there aren't any witnesses and, of course the main witness is the deceased. often times you have to deal with facts like that. this case was a hard case. i've said it from the very beginning. a circumstantial case, a death penalty case, talking about capital murder without being able to show the where, the when, the how, and especially the why, the motive behind it, is a very difficult case. not only did they have a circumstantial case, they were unable to explain a lot of the

very important pieces that a jury must have to, i think, decide first-degree murder. >> from a defense attorney's perspective, where did jose baez go right and wrong? clearly he did right because this jury thinks she is not guilty. >> one of the most criticized defense lawyers of all time because he did some things that were clearly unorthodox like making promises to the jury in opening that never came to fruition. >> the fact that she drowned, the fact that the brother -- >> by the way, it's still, i will stand by the pronouncement that was still a risky move. you still are really -- >> sunny has said -- >> very risky. >> walking a fine line saying things to a jury that you don't have any evidence of whatsoever. that being said, this really is not that shocking to me. i mean you read these headlines and i laugh, these journalists who haven't spent a minute in the courtroom, seemed to know what's shocking and what's not. those jurors spent every second watching every piece of testimony and there were three things. there's no dna linking this woman to that duct tape at all. >> and it would be almost

impossible not to get dna on a duct tape if you touched it or came in contact. no time line and no cause of death. those are things like this alternate said, i think pretty sus sinkly. there are reasons to believe something crazy happened here, family is dysfunctional. >> something criminal happened. we have a dead baby tossed in the woods. >> over charging. they overcharged. >> what should they have charged? >> i think evidence was consistent with an accidental death and there are charges associated with accidental death -- >> charges that could have stuck, not aggravated child abuse. she left her child, for 31 days running around not knowing where her kid was. >> perhaps or disposing of a body, different charges. >> this is the other question i have, when you said the duct tape, the bottom line, what people are forgetting, six months went by where this basically, the bag and the remains in the bag, were basically in a swamp. there was a tropical storm. >> under water. >> somebody tore off the duct tape. if there was no dna at all

doesn't that help? technically there was no dansz. wasn't just casey's and somebody else's there was no caylee dna. >> the lack of forensic evidence doesn't mean she probably did it, but there's no forensic evidence to show it. it has to go the other way. that's what the system is about. >> sunny f you were the prosecutor and you have been a prosecutor, could you have done something differently? >> hindsight is 20/20. >> on twitter -- >> i know. i think that -- i don't agree with joe that it was overcharged. i mean joe's been a prosecutor as well. you know that bottom line is, you have to fit your theory in with the evidence. once they found the remains with duct tape attached to the face, and they had the evidence of the chloroform searches, that could indicate premeditated murder. i don't think they overcharged it. i think they did a masterful job. anybody that watched that closing argument by this prosecution they were very good. the rebuttal argument very good. this is a trans parent process.

cameras in the courtroom, everyone saw what they saw. the jury system worked. 12 people that sat there and decided not guilty. and i think what we're uncomfortable with the verdict, we should be comfortable with the process. >> can i ask you about the laugh, when the prosecutor laughed -- >> you bet. >> i've heard some people say they didn't like that. they didn't like that. if people watching it didn't like it, maybe the jury didn't like it. >> no. go on a limb and i say i guarantee the jury didn't like it. >> we're showing it right now. >> i've dealt with that. what that is, that smacks of a lack of a professional, disrespectful to a jury. i've been involved in high tension cases as recently as a month ago in new york city, where when prosecutors do that or any lawyer does that to the opposing counsel, what it's signifying, one that lawyer is uncomfortable with the argument. it doesn't mean the lawyer is confidence. the lawyer is uncomfortable. the lawyer is really uncomfortable and trying to make light of the argument. jurors don't want to be told what to accept and not to accept. they're the fact finders.

>> when i was listening to the talking heads before hand some pointed to that but others pointed to jose baez choosing to call casey an "s" word, s-l-u-t -- >> you said it, the kids are still eating cheerios. >> that really that he probably lost the jury there. >> so uncalled for. >> calling his own client that -- >> if he's calling his own client that what must -- >> she is, perhaps, and so what? that's good. there's nothing wrong with a lawyer being honest my client may be a liar, may be this or that, but not a murderer and not enough evidence to convict her for murder. >> the point is that jose baez's sweet spot is speaking to a jury. he -- his opening statement, the people are disagreeing with it, masterf masterful. closing argument, masterful. that is his sweet spot. every day that jury went in, he said good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. they responded. they liked him. >> my point was that people were

globing on to one moment in the courtroom, that prosecutor smiling and laughing, was one small moment in a long sflil he was a terrific prosecutor. >> it's hard to say who did the right thing and who didn't and guess every gesture and moment. >> i think mr. baez can raise his hourly rates now. >> he may be bankrupt. i don't think he's been paid for a couple years. >> thanks very much. good to see you. thank you very much. that brings us to our question of the day. to which we have been getting remarkable responses. do you believe casey anthony's acquittal was a result of a good defense or a poor prosecution? send us an e-mail, tweet, tell ounce facebook. we'll read more thoughts later in the show. up next on "american morning," president obama putting new pressure on lawmakers to get the debt ceiling talks moving again. they'll been at an impasse now. we'll be live at the white house with more details. it's 11 minutes past the hour.

a new move by president obama to try to break the stalemate over raising the nation's debt limit and preventing what could turn into a new crisis for the economy. inviting congressional leaders to the white house tomorrow. brianna keilar is live at the white house being a good sport

about this whole thing. >> is the change of venue going to change the impasse they've clearly been at? >> you know, i think it's hard to say. he said or jay carney the white house press secretary said there were eight congressional leaders coming together here tomorrow. president obama made this move yesterday of coming into the briefing room, it talking to reporters. this is the second time in a week he talked to reporters and he said his goal here is to really kick off an intense period of back and forth and try to get this done before the august 2nd deadline. he said after talking with congressional leaders, democrats and republicans for days now, they've made real progress, but he also said there are real differences. here's what he's hoping will come out of this meeting tomorrow. >> it's my hope that everybody's going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we'll all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we're going do what's best for our economy and do what's best for our people. >> reporter: but the thing is, publicly, not a whole lot has

changed. there's still this impasse between democrats and republicans, democrats, want to see some tax increases, they don't just want to go along with the spending cuts that republicans want. we've heard president obama say there needs to be some tax increases. there have been barbs traded very fiery rhetoric in the last few days between democrats and republicans and the white house and republicans. president obama saying basically that there's certainly some areas of differences that need to be overcome. what's interesting, there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes here. i heard from a republican source late last night that over the weekend, speaker boehner and president obama met in person. so there's a lot going on behind the scenes. but democrats and republicans being pretty mum about it. >> we'll take your word, brianna, it's going on behind the scenes. wait i thought they canceled their holiday and now they're not meeting until thursday. i mean their fourth of july holiday. >> tricky time of year, right, for vacations in washington,

brianna. >> yes. however, there are -- there are discussions that we know. it's not like nothing is going on. there are discussions going on at the staff level between members of congress, really these principal negotiators and the white house, democrats and republicans. they are talking. this is really kind of now a public showing that we're going to see tomorrow where they come together. >> for the record, brianna says there's not nothing going on, there's just nothing happening -- >> it just looks like. >> it i think it's fair. there has to be something going on. it would be absolutely irresponsible for there to be nothing going on. you'll keep us posted. thanks. >> yeah. >> hope springs eternal. an inmate -- >> on the topic of hope springs eternal. this next story. >> this is -- i had to do a double take. when you first look at the picture it's disturbing because you're not sure what's happening. you figure it out. an inmate in mexico busted for an attempted prison break. this is unlike many you see. had he got his 19-year-old girlfriend to come in with a suit case and take him out in it. she was struggling with the

suitcase on the way out and when an officer stopped her -- >> the case moved. >> it moved. she stumbled or something and the guy saw movement in the suitcase. >> that's when they found the man curled in the fetal position. >> he has a future as a contortionist. >> she faces jail time now for her role in the attempted escape. >> i have to imagine if you walk into or out of a prison, with a suitcase big enough for a human it's going to get checked. >> might ask you a couple questions. >> i understand you're bringing stuff in, newspapers, nail files, what are you bringing out of the prison? >> clearly -- >> apparently they told her. >> very flexible man. >> but he should have stopped for a few more days. he would have made it. >> good morning, jacqui. >> no tricks like that for me here today, but we do have a lot of showers and thunderstorms in the forecast. that's the big thing we're going to be watching, especially this afternoon. some of them may be severe across parts of the plain states and we're also watching the east

here, places like rally, towards norfolk, even into baltimore and then also into parts of maine and boston may see a few strong thunderstorms. the monsoonal storms kicking up into the southwest as we head into the afternoon hours. if you've seen the video, take a look at the video. if you haven't seen this yet it's the best pictures all day you're going to see. this is a dust storm in the phoenix area that grounded flights downed trees and brought about 8,000 people without power as the thing moved through. the dust went into the atmosphere, as much as 10,000 feet and the thing 50 miles wide at its greatest point. amazing system out there. we could see a few more of those dust storms later today and a lot of airport delays as a result of that as well as a thunderstorms across the east. >> haboob! >> ali's favorite word of the day. >> i'm going to use it a lot today. >> like a third grader with that giggle. >> a lot of my life is conducted as a third grader. thanks.

ahead on "american morning," teachers changing wrong answers so they look better making their schools look better. principals letting it happen or looking the other way. a stunning investigation into systemwide cheating in one of the country's major school systems. it is 20 minutes after the hour. ...was it something big? ...or something small? ...something old? ...or something new? ...or maybe, just maybe... it's something you haven't seen yet.

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minding your business this morning. markets closed pretty flat yesterday and right now stock futures are trading down slightly ahead of the opening bell. investors on edge over financial instability in europe.

moody's cut portugal's credit rating to junk. facebook about to unveil what it calls something au sochl. so far the social network won't say what it has in store for today's announcement. the buzz is a partnership with skype that's going to allow you to video chat with multiple awesome friends at the same time. verizon wireless customers saying good-bye to unlimited data plans. thursday the company is joining its competitors at&t mobile -- i'm sorry t-mobile and at&t in eliminating that option. verizon says existing customers with the plan get to keep it and this only applies to new customers. netflix is expanding internationally. to 42 countries in latin america and the caribbean. members will have access to movies and shows in spanish, portuguese and english by streaming, not by mail. "american morning" will be back after this break.

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beautiful shot of atlanta this morning where it's partly cloudy, 73 degrees, a little later there are thunderstorms in the forecast, going up to a high of 89. >> it's going to be a lot hotter in the halls of the school district. >> it certainly will be because there's a scandal there that may have kept 12,000 kids from getting the extra help they need. >> incredible. investigators say 80% of atlanta's schools cheated on state standardized tests, faking scores and changing wrong answers to show fake improvement. >> they found that this was

pretty systemic. investigators said close to 200 teachers and principals either knew it was going on or should have known it was going on. ed lavandera live for us in atlanta this morning. tell us about the scope of this. it sounds shocking, 80%. >> good morning, guys. the -- this investigation has gone on for a year. they looked into 56 schools and for the last decade, test scores here in the city of atlanta were jumping but according to this report, it was all too good to be true. >> reporter: two years ago the head of atlanta public schools, befrl early hall, was named the country's top superintendent. back then she was credited for turning the atlanta system into a model of urban school reform and accomplishing significant gains in student achievement. but georgia's governor says the state's just completed investigation into the atlanta school district standardized testing process found widespread fraud dating back almost ten years. >> testing and results and

targets being reached became more important than actual learning on the part of children and when reaching targets became the goal, it was a goal that was pursued with no excuses. >> reporter: according to the report, cheating was found in 44 of 56 schools investigated. involving almost 180 principals and teachers. some of those educators could face criminal charges. superintendent hall stepped down from her job in june, but in a farewell video message, she suggested the culprits acted alone. >> segment of our staff chose to violate the trust that was placed in them. and let me be clear. there is simply no excuse for unethical behavior and no room in this district for unethical conduct. >> reporter: according to the investigative report some teachers told investigators they felt pressured to cheat on the standardized test and school district officials missed significant and clear warning signs of test score tampering. atlanta's interim superintendent says any educator who cheated

should never teach in the city's schools again. >> we have cheated students. this angers us all. it is hard for us to quantify and often express that anger. >> reporter: across the city of atlanta parents of schoolchildren are dismayed by the investigation's findings. >> they clearly did not do their job and they accused their power. >> it's a sad comment about what happens when adults put their own individual interests ahead of the children they serve. >> and this report really puts blame at the top officials of the school district saying at one point as well, that there had been a fear of culture of intimidation and fear, that trickled down through the school system that allowed this to happen. so guys, a scandal that has a lot of parents questioning the very schools they're sending their children to. >> all right. ed, thanks very much. what a story we'll stay on top of that with you. >> crossing the half hour, a somali terror suspect brought to the u.s. after being held

secretly on a navy ship for two months in the persian gulf has pleaded not guilty in a new york courtroom. he's's i could uds of being a middle man between a terror group and al qaeda on the aran ab peninsula based in yemen. more delays and storms possible in the southwest today. flights in and out of phoenix's largest airport were grounded last night as a massive desert sandstorm swepds over the area, thousands of feet high and 50 miles long. flights were delayed more than an hour at phoenix's sky harbor airport as near hurricane-force winds kicked up all that dust. montana's governor declaring a state of emergency in seven counties after an exxon mobil pipeline ruptured last week spilling 42,000 gallons of oil into the yellow stone river. environmental protection agency and the coast guard are trying to figure out what caused that rupture. thanks, guys. senator jim demint helped create the political wave that turned the house red, he was the kingmaker in the 2010 mid-terms

and some conservatives say he should go for it in 2012. he's out with a new book "the great american awakening" the republican from south carolina is here with us this morning. welcome to the program, nice to see you. >> thank you. >> we know about the two years that changed america in washington. the tea party movement has changed the landscape. how did it change you? >> what i went through inside of congress trying to change the establishment what is changed me, realizing i wasn't going to change the people who were there. we had -- change their minds in effect. we had to change them. and that's where the tea party came in. the great american awakening is designed to show people how washington changes as they get more informed and engaged. as they came to rallies, town halls, as they called and e-mailed, we began to change things. things that couldn't be changed, i was told, like getting rid of earmarks, at least for now we've gotten rid of them because of the wave of activism, but now, the real test is in front of us. what do we do with this debt

ceiling? >> right. >> how do we balance our budget. 2012 could be a our last chance. >> the new wave of activism that you're talking about that has embolden your colleagues in the house to hold the line on what they want. they want deep, deep cuts, do not want tax increases in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. there are some who say that democrats are giving ground, and the republicans aren't. this new awakening is dangerous for america. >> not at all. this new awakening first of all includes democrats and independents and republicans and a a lot of people never involved in politics. it's fun to go to tea parties and meet a wide diversity of people and if they stay active it will give house and senate republicans the courage to keep fighting. democrats are talking about taxes, but christine, last december, president obama took taxes off the table. he said we couldn't raise taxes in a down economy. they've just put those back on the table so they can have something to give up to show they're working with us.

we need to address the spending. >> what have you given up to show you're working with them? >> it's not a matter of what we give up or they give up, it's a matter of national survival. we can't keep spending more than we bring in. they give a little we give a little we have to balance our budget. that's what needs to be the focus. >> david in "the new york times" says independent voters will see the democrats are willing to compromise but the republicans are not. >> i don't think he represents the american people. we don't have a revenue problem, christine. for the last five years we've had record levels of revenue and next year, is projected to be the highest level of tax revenues in history. but the problem is, spending has gone up 60% in the last eight years. we've got to stop spending. >> we know why it's gone up. we know we've been fighting a

horrible economy, a financial crisis, the president had a year and a half or two years to leverage that moment to try to turn the economy around, and now, now, the republicans are leveraging a moment. >> right. >> to try to get big, big cuts in attached to the debt ceiling. would you be amenable to maybe a short-term fix just so that we don't tell the rest of the world that we can't pay our bills. >> we will pay our bills. it doesn't matter if we never raise the debt ceiling again. our priority has to be to pay our debt. we may have to begin to cut other government programs, but the republicans -- >> are you willing to start doing that. have the treasury secretary decide which programs to start cutting? >> we're going to have to do that. republicans are willing to give the president and the democrats an increase in the debt limit in return for some short-term cuts, caps on spending, and a balanced budget amendment. that is the pledge that we're encouraging that's the commitment that we have to make. okay if we have to give them one more increase in how much we

borrow, let's make a permanent change so that we don't have to do it again. >> pew research center asked who would be responsible if no deal on the debt on raising the federal debt ceiling happens. obama administration, 33%, gop in congress 42%, both, 13%. according to this poll, this pew poll, the public would blame the gop in congress if something doesn't get done here. >> if republicans can't convince americans we have to stop spending more than we bring in we don't deserve to be there. that's the message i would like to try to sell. what we're talking about are not draconian cuts next year or the year after but let the states decide, the american people decide, do we need to balance our budget? just like families have to balance their checkbook. >> sure. >> but that's what "american awakening" is about. if people understood what their involvement could do to change washington and move it in the right direction that's what i want people to know. if they want to know what's been going on behind closed doors "the great american awakening" will tell them.

>> michele bachmann, has not signed on to your pledge yet. are you disappointed by that? >> i am disappointed. she said she wants to add things like arhee peeling obama care. this is not the conservative agenda. one focus we have to have we have to stop spending more than we're bringing in. let's let the states decide. this is a point of leverage. if we don't get a balanced budget now we probably won't any time in the next few years, maybe never, and could bankrupt our country in the next 18 months. >> very nice to see you today. thank you so much. >> thank you so much. coming up next inside the mind of an alternate juror from the casey anthony trial. does he think the system worked? you're looking at a shot from yesterday of all the other jurors, none of them have spoken. this one has something to say. >> he was standing right near congresswoman gabrielle giffords when a gunman opened fire six months ago. ron barber, one of her staffers is back at work. what it was like for him to return after that tragedy. 37 minutes past the hour. lities.

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casey anthony could be sentenced to the time she's already served and freed tomorrow after she was acquitted

of killing her 2-year-old daughter caylee. the jury deliberated about 11 hours before reaching a not guilty verdict. what shocked millions of courtroom observers. >> one of the alternate jurors who heard the testimony but did not take part in the deliberations says the prosecution gave jurors a reason to doubt anthony's guilt. let's listen. >> the prosecution did not prove their case, the big question that was not answered, how did caylee die. i think there was probably a lot of discussion it was probably a horrific accident, that dad and casey covered up and unfortunately did snowball and got away from them. >> do you believe that caylee anthony's remains were in casey's car in the trunk? >> i had a hard time believing that especially with just that one hair being found.

i don't think there was evidence of the chloroform, you know. i meant to say i personally. i didn't buy it because i thought there was such still low levels that it could have been contributed to possibly cleaning products and then with one hair, mine we're showing pictures of the stain, i didn't see a picture of the stain. there could have been decomposing material. >> how about -- >> if george was, you know, an ex-police officer if he would have smelled a decomposing body when they picked up the car from the tow yard, why didn't he and the tow driver call law enforcement right away? why did they take the vehicle home and then try to clean it. >> see, that's very interesting and fascinating because personally one of the most compelling things was to hear cindy anthony's frantic 911

phone call when she finally realized her granddaughter was missing and she said it smelled like a body was in this car and she sounded very -- sounded very real and terrified. then later backtracking. >> trying to link this together. >> she was convicted only, casey anthony, of four counts of lying to police and her sentencing is tomorrow. >> now our question of the day, what do you -- we want to know do you believe casey anthony's acquittal was the result of a good defense or a poor prosecution. here's some of your responses. joyce on facebook said the verdict did not surprise me. it was a circumstantial case, there was no solid link between casey and caylee's remains. she got away with it because the police didn't get to the body the first time ray kronk called and reported to the police. the police let caylee down. >> carmelo says on our blog, casey not only had a good defense she had an awesome defense. they offered enough alternative possibilities for the child's death that it created the perception of reasonable doubt. not really the defense's responsibility to prove the

alternative possibilities, as much as it was the prosecutor's to prove their factual arguments. >> mike writes like oj simpson the prosecution should have gone for a lesser charge and aimed for life in prison. sage anthony on my twitter page, neither, it was the result of poor jurors. most people have been solidly in defense of the jurors saying that they did the job to the best of their ability. >> we choose from amongst our peers. we don't have an expert class of jurors. they're supposed to be your peers and their judgment counts. i know that's a criticism some people will level but that's the system we have. cnn learning lawyers for dominique strauss-kahn will meet with prosecutors today, just days ago prosecutors acknowledged that the maid accusing the former imf chief of sexual assault, the maid might have some credibility problems. also this morning, prosecutors are refusing to give the accuser's lawyers a copy of a recorded conversation she had with her boyfriend. he's being held in an arizona jail. a source tells cnn during that conversation, the alleged victim said she's fine and that, quote,

there's money to be made. end quote. a day many thought would never come in boston. arraignment day for former mob boss james whitey bulger, arrested last month in california after some 16 years on the lamb. bulger was the influence for jacque nicholson's character in "the departed." he's expected to enter a plea on 19 murder charges today. jury selection begins in the roger clemens jury trial. accused of lying under oath before a congressional committee when he said he never used steroids or mum growth hormones. the judge may not let some of his former teammates testify in the case since they could unfairly influence jurors. a federal appeals court in san francisco ordering a temporary stop to the forced medication of tucson shooting defendant jared loughner. the government has until tonight to argue that the medications are necessary and are going to make loughner competent to stand trial. loughner is charged in the january shooting that killed six people and seriously injured

arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. >> ron barber is back on the job. gabrielle giffords' district director. he was standing next to the congresswoman six months ago when the gunman opened fire. barber was shot in the cheek and through the thigh, still has trouble walking but glad to be back at work on a part-time basis and his staff was thrilled to welcome him back yesterday. >> it was very emotional coming in. i was a little bit nervous. the staff have been through a lot too. there's a special relationship between those of us who were shot that day. >> we'll never be normal again, but it felt like it was beginning to close the healing. >> barbara says the only thing that would make his return to work sweeter would be to see congresswoman giffords come walking through that door. morning headlines next. a little later we're getting brutally honest with parents. do you like one kid more than the other? >> oh, no. >> i'm an only child and my parents never had to worry. why playing favorites may be completely normal behavior.

the question is, should -- they always say they don't want to tell the kids and the kids say when they grow up, i always knew so-and-so was my mom's favorite. >> but that may be normal and how you're supposed to deal with that. i'm looking forward to that conversation. >> facebook has some awesome plans that it's unveiling today. their words. what is it? we may have an early idea. we can tell you about it. it is -- we'll tell you about it on the other side of the break. it's 47 minutes after the hour. is all we humans get. we spend them on treadmills. we spend them in traffic. and if we get lucky, really lucky, it dawns on us to go spend them in a world where a simple sunrise can still be magic. twenty-five thousand mornings. make sure some of them are pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. is it the new forty, i don't know. i probably feel about thirty. how is it that we don't act our age? [ marcie ] you keep us young.

[ kurt ] we were having too much fun we weren't thinking about a will at that time. we have responsibilities to the kids and ourselves. we're the vargos and we created our wills on legalzoom. finally. [ laughter ] [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. ♪ at great clips, quality and value have never looked more atractive. relax. you're at great clips.

48 minutes past the hour. a look at your headlines. near hurricane-force winds kicking up in the desert. a massive sandstorm grounding flights around phoenix last night. the cloud is rising thousands of feet in the air and stretching over 30 miles. seven montana counties under a state of emergency because of an oil spill in the yellow stone river. 42,000 gallons leaked friday night after an exxon mobil pipeline ruptured. governor schweitzer is criticizing the giant for what it calls a sluggish response. exxon mobil says 350 workers are involved in the cleanup and more resources will be added until all of the oil is gone. president obama reversing a long-standing white house policy of not sending condolence letters to the families of service members who commit suicide. the move comes after a bipartisan group of senators asked the president to change it. between 2005 and 2009, more than 22% of army suicides occurred in combat zones.

overall across the military, more than 1100 service members took their lives during the same time period. president obama inviting congressional leaders from both parties to the white house to try to kickstart talks to increase the nation's debt limit. the meeting comes as cnn learned the president met with house house speaker john boehner over the weekend to discuss reducing the deficit. stock futs trading down slightly ahead of the opening bell. investors said tb on edge over financial stability concerns? europe. today, facebook will hold a news conference to announce the launch of what it calls something awesome. the buzz this morning is that this awesome thing may actually be a partnership with skype that lets you video chat with your facebook friends. international olympic set to unveil the winning bid to host the 2018 winter games. munich, germany, and the announcement is expected at 11:00 eastern time.

caught up on today's headlines. "american morning" will be back after a quick break.

look at that! >> new york city. sunny, 78 degrees. you mean look at that beautiful sky? >> totally. >> it's awesome. >> awesome. like facebook. awesome announcement. awesome is one word and haboob is another word. >> that shut down with delayed flights. take a look at this. looks like any other sushi place in japan. show it to you. look at that.

it isn't raw fish, raw meat. uncooked chicken, pork, deer and horse meat. >> why are we showing this at 7:52? >> popular with japanese women and restaurant says it's safe and no one has been ever sick from eating their raw meat sushi. >> raw horse meat, i don't know if i can do it. many things i'll try but i don't know about raw horse meat. >> do you have a favorite child? >> all three of them. >> really? >> good answer. >> if you did have a favorite child, see, it's harder. i think it's easier. i have a boy and a girl. you have three boys so you can compare them a little more. anyway, rose emery says she is a writer of award winning blog "l.a. city mom." she is saying it's okay at times to like like one child more than the other. but she says it's important to know the difference between favoritism and differential treatment. really? that is a parsing of words!

>> favoritism may apparently click better with one of their children, but differential treatment is when parents, obviously, give one for more child and when problems start. you can read more about it at cnn.com. >> do you think your parents loved your sister more than you? >> i'm trying to figure out the difference between differential treatment. i will hold my thought on that one. >> good. i'll read the article. a new study finds in a nonemergency situation nearly half of all procedures to widen a blocked or partially blocked artery may be necessary. it would help patients avoid potentially serious side effects including blood clots and postoperative bleeding. >> i don't understand. oftentimes you have to go in there to see whether it's emergency, right? you don't know how significant that blockage is. sometimes people are trying to error on the side of -- you don't do it and then your patient has a heart attack.

scary. >> all right. number of people diagnosed with colon cancer is on the decline. according to a new study between 2003 and 2007 the number of cases slipped by nearly 3.5% and the number of people dying from colon cancer is dropping about 3% as well. researchers say the declines are as a result of more people getting screened. a lot of efforts in the last few years to get people to do it. >> a childhood disorder, jeanetgenetics may play less ofe than previously thought and environmental factors may be proving to be more significant. >> senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us live to help sort it out. what are the other factors we are talking about? >> reporter: good morning. a whole host of other factors. throw up the list that we have. researchers are thinking that perhaps all of these things may -- and i emphasize the word may -- contribute to whether a child develops autism. air pollution in the area in which they live in, the age of

their parents when they are born and weight when they are born and all put under the umbrella called environmental factors meaning the things around you rather than the dna inside you that may help influence whether a child develops autism. >> you say parental age. one theory the parents talk about. so many parents having children later in life. is there some way that could somehow be connected with increased number of reporting? i mean we don't know but interesting that is one of those factors. >> it is interesting. a study done that looks at paternal age and found older fathers were more likely to father children with autism and some studies look at maternal age. yes, that really is one of the things they are looking for. we are in the infancy stages of this kind of study. >> right. . when you talk to advocacy groups like autism speaks and others, they have wanted more research in terms of environmental factors because parents have asked for it. so many people said is there something i can do differently? is there something i can do to

keep my child from developing autism or if i'm already raising a child on the spectrum, is there something i can do to make sure another child doesn't get it? >> unfortunately, there really isn't much we can tell parents to do right now except early detection. the minute you think your child might have a problem, talk to your pediatrician. unfortunately, we can't tell them do this or do that while you're pregnant and your child won't develop autism. we're not there yet. if you take look at cnn.com/the chart you can educate yourself about autism and we know knowledge is power. >> we love every scrap of information. elizabeth cohen, thank you. >> >> thanks. top stories after the break.

s penalty.

now casey anthony could go free as early at tomorrow. i'm christine romans. could casey anthony be sentenced to time already served for lying to police. al qaeda is back in afghanistan. the afghan army is short-staffed and learning to shoot as the u.s. tries to leave what a cnn crew found out on patrol in the mountains. i'm ali velshi. nasa about to retire its shuttle program after friday's final launch. the space agency now looking into its past to help make a transition into its future on this "american morning."

good morning. it's wednesday, july 6th. i'm christine romans. >> gla we are still talking about the casey anthony trial. what happens now? she could be a free woman tomorrow at her sentencing. committed on murder charges. after six weeks of testimony, nearly 11 hours of jury deliberations, it was not the courtroom climax that many seem to be expecting. >> as to the charge of first-degree murder, verdict as to count i, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. as to the charge of aggravated child abuse, verdict as to count ii, he w, the jury, found the defendant not guilty. as as to the aggravated manslaughter of a child, count iii, we, the jury, find the defendant not guilty. >> wow. the look on her face. just the look on her face as those counts are read. >> yeah.

the jurors, by the way, weren't talking after the case about how they reached their verdict but one of the five alternates who sat through the entire trial and heard all of the testimony but did not take part in the deliberations say his fellow jurors got it right. the case raised many questions about the anthony family, this alternate juror says in the end it was the prosecution's case that was weak. >> this is a very dysfunctional family. and they did not handle things well at all. yes, we all believe and i'm pretty sure i can say this for all 17 of us, this was some type of horrific accident but they didn't handle it. overall, i think the family knows a lot more than what came out at the trial, but they didn't prove that there was a murder. >> for at least one of casey anthony's defense lawyers, their dramatic victory was a chance to lash at those, who he says, has

tried and convicted casey in the media. >> i hope this is a listen to those of you that are indulged in media assassination for three years, bias and prejudice and incompetent talking heads saying what would be and how to be. i'm disgusted by some of the lawyers that have done this and i can tell you that my colleagues from coast-to-coast and border-to-border have condemned this process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases they don't know a damn thing about and don't have the experience to back up their words or law to do it. >> now about the child. not about this 2-year-old that is dead or now about how casey is going to rebuild her life but attack on tv lawyers. casey anthony's defense team wasted no time celebrating her acquittal. mings after the stunning verdict, they were spotted partying at a bar of a restaurant across the street

from the courthouse. there you see one of them jumping up and down showing pictures. it is the same restaurant where the defense team has eaten lunch nearly every day of the six-week long trial. >> casey anthony's mother and father cindy and george anthony left the courtroom quitely after the verdict and showed no emotion at the time and issued a statement through their attorney that said, in part, while the family may never know what has happened to caylee marie anthony, they now have closure for this chapter of their life. they will now begin the long process of rebuilding. the family believes that the jury made a fair decision based on the evidence presented. >> there are a lot of qualifiers. >> a lot of qualifiers. >> i was parsing to the statement for the qualifiers what they had to say. >> they say that casey chose. that was also interesting. casey -- >> casey chose. >> what comes next for casey anthony joining us is sunny hostin, a contributor to trutv.

what the the national juror was saying what woo going through his mind. you're saying he is saying exactly what the defense had presented. >> he quoted the defense's opening statement and closing argument and so it just goes to show you which arguments suede the jury. i think it's really, really telling, because so many people said this defense was a terrible defense. this was an incompetent defense team, an incompetent jose baez. when you hear a juror saying that -- >> jury signs are so funny, though. that what makes it so fascinating. >> he also said we determined this was a result of some horrific accident. that was never -- >> it's -- out of control which is exactly the words of the mistress river cruise who they obviously found credible. >> what was the horrific accident then? they just didn't need to explain that. >> well, i think that is the thing about reasonable doubt. i have always said a prosecutor

needs all 12 jurors to believe your theory. a defense attorney just needs one for a hung jury. in this case, 12 jurors believed at least the substance of the opening statement, even though we now know some of that did not come into evidence, a large portion of it actually. >> a lot of stuff out there that is unclear. then it starts to hinge on other things. one of the things you pointed out jose baez who many americans are no idea who this guy was, many in florida had no idea who he was. he had sort of an intimate relationship with the jury. he was a likeable guy. >> he did. it's sort of lawyering 101. i prosecuted cases in d.c. a little bit of a southern draw there. i'm a new yorker bred here. opening statement, i would always say i'm going to talk a little differently like everybody else talks because i have that new york accent right. right. right. >> that is okay. right? i would try to do that with my jury. i saw that with jose baez. every morning, he would say, good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. by the end of that case, they were saying good morning in

unison. that means that they really connected with him. they say that is extremely crucial for a jury. they have to believe you. >> the judge decided not to release the names of the jurors. they have all chosen not to speak publicly at this point. interesting when you were reading about the paper work about the descriptions of them. in one, was it an african-american woman who said because of her religion she didn't feel comfortable judging people? isn't that the one prosecutors tried to get her out? >> they tried to bounce her. >> how worried do you think this prosecution was about summoning the jury -- another juror said i can never be comfortable with the death penalty. >> then that juror sort of backtracked and said i would follow the law. there are two camps and i happen to be in the former. if you have a good case, you can convince that jury. i was never really that concerned about my juries. in fact, one case that i tried, it was a drug case. before i knew it, there was a guy with a marijuana conviction on it. when i back to the u.s. attorney's office everybody was

making fun of me and had all sorts of pools. i got a conviction. he told me -- told one of the investigators afterwards since he knew drugs he knew the guy was guilty. i think that it doesn't matter so much about the jury. it really matters about the process and the case and, again, i'll say it for the umpteen time. this was a transparent process, transparent. cameras in the courtroom. good prosecutor. good defense team. you know, good judge. and you can't be upset with the verdict really because justice prevails when the system works. >> you have seen a lot of destroyed families in prosecuting cases. >> yeah. >> is there any chance, can this family ever be put back together some maybe this is a legal question. as a lawyer -- >> a mom. >> a mom, a human. >> some of the things they all said about each other. >> geez! >> i think it's going to be really, really difficult. i think there is nothing like a mother's love and you saw that with cindy anthony. i mean, after she testified, she said, "i love you."

>> i think they will try to build this but i think it's going to be really, really difficult. >> where does casey go if she gets out tomorrow morning? >> jamie mason said she is not going back to the anthony home. somebody are speculating she will. where will she work? perhaps a book deal, a reality tv show? she has live her life and we all will be watching. >> she is the most famous 25-year-old. >> what do you think? was casey anthony's acquittal a good defense or a poor prosecution? our question of the day. we will read some of your comments later in the show. still ahead, the latest round of debt talks grinding to a halt. both sides digging in. is there any way that republicans and democrats are going to agree and get something done within the next 27 days? what has to happen to seal a debt deal. also, the space shuttle's final mission may be in jeopardy

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♪ 13 minutes past the hour. chance of a lifetime for one fan at a youtube show in nashville. holding up a sign i am blind and want to play a song for my wife. u2 grabbed him and put him on the stage and here is their little impromptu performance. ♪ you say you give me

eyes in blindness. a harbor of tempers. all those promises. we make ♪ >> got even better. bono let him keep the guitar. they do that in their shows. it is really awesome. >> i think it's a great story. i guess i would say i wouldn't believe he was blind. >> you are such -- >> i thought he would use it as a ploy. >> you are such a cynic! >> he can play incredible. he played it flawlessly with bono. what a chance of a lifetime. in mexico busted after prison break. >> weirdest prison break ever. >> she tried to take him out in a suitcase. on the way out the woman was struggling with the suitcase with the folded up body of her

boyfriend. when officers stopped her and found the inmate in the suitcase. >> i'm half naked in a suitcase trying to break out of jail! i don't want anybody to see my face. >> impressive he was able to curl himself up in that little suitcase. what are you taking out of prison in a big suitcase like that? i suspect they would have been caught at some point. >> check this out. this thing should have become road kill. he should have been vaporized actually. all about r all abo all about rah g lamb bothey always freeze up oa

road. you're driving. you slow down. squirrel stops and is not -- doesn't know what way to go. yesterday, i saw a girl that didn't get so lucky and freshly unlucky and i was trying to not to roll over it with my tires on the off chance it was just asleep, but it was bad. >> excellent morning tv segway. >> that girl just just stay indoors. more storms possible in the southwest. flights in and out of phoenix. a wall of clouds swept through the area. take a look. >> dust. >> if you've ever seen one of these dust storms they are amazing. >> otherwise known as a haboob. >> can you say that on tv? >> which is a version of a humongous dust storm. >> thousands of homes lost power. these storms are known as --

>> arabic word for wind. >> you can say it, chris steen. >> it's not a bad word. actually what it's called. >> haboob, we said 50 times! >> history may have to wait. talking about weather again. countdown for the space shuttle's final mission is under way. only a 40% chance "atlantis" will lift off on schedule friday in the morning because thunderstorms are in the forecast. if the launch are delayed there are alternate windows in place for saturday and sunday. >> that means you and ed will hang out all weekend long? >> john is a great guy to hang out with actually. by the way, we're not going to be alone. there will be millions of spectators for the final launch on friday, saturday, or whenever is happens. nasa then has to figure out what it's going to do. it's trying to make a transition from its glorious past into the future. >> that's right. space agency is developing a new capsule that will take humans deep into space. john zarrella is live from the kennedy space center this morning. what is the plan once this mission is over?

>> reporter: you know, they have the capsule as you mentioned but nasa doesn't have the heavy-lift rocket they need to get the capsule to wherever they are going to go. even though nasa doesn't know exactly where it's going to go or when it's going to go, it's already working on what it's going to do when it gets there. >> reporter: surrounded by the blackness of deep space, 117 million miles from earth, is the asteroid vesta. images captured by a nasa probe. in the not too distant future, u.s. astronauts could be looking out their window at a sight just like this. >> i can either float along it or i can have it tethered to me and i can sample rocks. can i chip a rock. >> astronaut mike gernhardt and his team are working on the kinds of techniques they need for human exploration of a

asteroid as early as 2025 before either the moon or mars. >> what we are doing is building a simulated asteroid under water. >> reporter: this is not some high-tech laboratory. it's key large owe, florida. beneath the surface at the site of an underneath habitat called the aquarius, they have created an asteroid proving ground in the near weightless environment. >> he we can work there and live there and put anchors and built a rock wall like a climbing wall. we can climb up that wall in zero graph jit with the schultz era over, nasa is going back to going outward. while most everyone agrees, it does best. asteroid could be the first stop, a baby step, because there is no gravity and an asteroid would be much closer, it's simply an easier first mission than mars. so once you get to mars, or the moon or an asteroid, how are you going to get around? well, how about this?

a multimission space exploration vehicle. in five years, gernhardt hopes to see his vehicle attached to the space station's robotic arm with astronauts living in it and spacewalking from it. a good test. but before it can go any further out like to an asteroid, there is one big problem -- getting it there. jeff greason was a member of president obama's blue ribbon committee on the future of exploration. greason worries it may never go anywhere. >> it's a invest expensive thing for nasa to maintain and the result of that, as i see it, is that if nasa does successfully develop this launch vehicle, there will be no budget to do anything with it. >> reporter: the man commanding the last shuttle flight worries too. talks of trip back to the moon and on to bars mars has always been, well, just talk. >> mars is 20 years in the future and been 20 years in the future for the last 30 years. i'd like to see how committed we

are this time. >> reporter: so, you know, we are going to get a weather briefing about 11:30. maybe we will get lucky and the weather will change. guys, i'm really disappointed you're not down here tonight, because the group bandella is playing at a local pub, not far from -- in cocoa beach. you know who is one of the featured players in that group? >> who? katie coleman, astronaut katie coleman. >> that is your buddy. you followed her for more than a year! >> you make him sound like a stalker as part of a reporter. >> i will say one thing, john. nasa has been fighting over budgets, worried about budgets since the beginning of nasa. every time there is a new bright idea, they are worried there is going to be political winds are going to shift. so i don't know if that is good news or bad news but that is just the way it is. >> but it always is political wind that ultimately drives whether it was "apollo" or

whatever the program is, there is politics. >> a huge sort of national pride for those people. >> that's right. >> so it lives on. >> john, you and i will spending quality time on friday one way or the other. good to see you, my friend. >> yeah. >> 30 years after the space shuttle program begin "atlantis" trip to the international space station will be 135th and final mission for nasa. special live coverage friday morning 10:00 a.m. eastern here on cnn. >> love that little rocket. stocks firing on all cylinders last week. is the rally over already? we will check after the break. ! with aveeno nourish plus moisturize. active naturals wheat formulas target and help repair damage in just 3 washes. for softer, stronger... ... hair with life. [ female announcer ] nourish plus. only from aveeno.

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almost 26 minutes after the hour. "minding your business." facebook is about to unveil what it calls awesome. so far the social knob network won't say what also but the buzz is it's a partnership with skype allowing to you video chat with your awesome friends at the same time. 7 billion is how much twitter may be worth. "the wall street journal" reporting the site is seeking another round of private financing as opposed to going public. investors on edge over financial stability in europe. moodys has downgraded portugal rate to go junk. members will have access to movies and shows in spanish, portuguese and english by streaming not by mail. almost half of all flat panel tvs will have internet by 2015 according to a new study. by the end of this year, 25% of all tvs shipped will have some sort of interconnectivity.

coming up next an exclusive on the ground in al qaeda. "american morning" back after the break. i grew up wearing lots of hand-me-downs. bell bottoms in the '80s? not pretty. then she found them. she loved them, so i washed them in tide with downey and they're still soft and fresh. right? i'm blogging. really. i'm talking. that's my tide. what's yours?

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sentenced tomorrow on four misdemeanor convictions for lying to police. may not get any jail time other than what she has already served. japan says it will now perform stress tests on all of its nuclear plants. the computer simulations will look at how the nuclear plants would respond during earthquakes and other national disaster. the fukushima daiichi plant started leaking radiation after psalm tripled reactors in march. a sue mostliy terror suspect brought to the u.s. after secretly held on a navy ship for two months in the persian good

enough pleaded not guilty in new york yesterday. he is accused of being a middleman. a cnn exclusive now from inside afghanistan. even after a decade of war and surge of troops, there is new evidence that al qaeda is make ago comeback. >> comes as the u.s. is getting ready to leave. the drawdown is scheduled to begin this monday. >> nick paton walsh went into the pakistan border with u.s. troops and here is what they found. >> reporter: in eastern afghanistan, it looks like this. americans pushing the afghans to the front, taking the high ground and impossible to police. the pressure for less americans here is extreme. but the afghans only mustered five men for this patrol. >> when you shoot it has to be five to seven-round bursts and let it go. >> reporter: despite this

training, policing the local villages. let alone, taking on the terrorists network america came here to eradicate. here that afghanistan's future looks a lot like its past. american control does not extend up in this valley and high on the ridge lines they found safe havens for lked lk. u.s. and afghanistan officials are revealed to cnn they located here al qaeda fighters using the s secluded villages. air-lifted in americans were forced in and they faced a nastier fight than planned. u.s. officials say they killed 120 insurgents and top leaders, many taliban, but several of them arabs linked to al qaeda, damaging their network. yet, the clashes reveal that al qaeda, for years, said to be mostly across the border in

pakistan is again a concern back where they started in afghanistan's hills. we push down into the valley, still an insurgent stronghold. high-tech american helicopters buzzed overhead until militants shot at them up in the valley. >> uncharacteristic for the taliban around here. they are getting gutsy. past there usually patrols don't push up far past that because if you do, you're going to take enemy contact, pretty certain. >> reporter: the afghans clear about who lay and wait for them ahead. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: they are talibans and arabs and poickets there. >> reporter: the foot of the valley, the american base is hit by pot shots sometimes by lone gunmen up high who they then mortar. al qaeda's return to these remote hills could tie america's hands, making it harder to justify pulling back from here.

the terrorist network that made america's case for invading slipping back in when america makes its case to leave. nick paton walsh, cnn, afghanistan. >> slipping back in as the u.s. is making its case to leave makes it difficult. coming up, everyone in d.c. is talking debt but whether they are talking at or with each other is the question. debt talk negotiations are turning into a bit of a circus. can the president jump-start those negotiations? we will ask the experts how to get real spending cuts next. to make science as exciting as a video game. i need to reach peter, who's falling behind. and push janet who's 6 chapters ahead. ♪ [ male announcer ] with interactive learning solutions from dell, mrs. davis can make education a little more personal. so every student feels like her only student. dell. the power to do more.

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washington, d.c., cloudy and 80 degrees. going to be thunderstorms and 93. that's the real weather report, not the one that is going on inside the white house today and for the next several days until they get some kind of a deal. storm clouds gathering. a new poll of republican voters in new hampshire, the first primary state, by the way, shows mitt romney is still on. still way ahead of the pack. take a look at the poll. the big is michele bachmann gaining ground and in second

place. she is still trailing romney by double digits. giuliani at 7% and ron paul at 7% and rick perry from texas is not a declared candidate, he is number four. huntsman, pawlenty not even on the list. they are way down, put it that way. 35% of voters said that they would vote for romney. >> 12% for bachmann is a big jump. >> she did very well after a new poll coming out of iowa. but nobody budging the romney lint. >> jim demint told us he is disappointed with michele bachma bachmann. she hasn't signed on as a pledge for his budget. she has to be well in north carolina, his home state. a presidential first today. >> twitter town hall. tweetup they are calling it. starts at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. you can submit a question still. >> i don't think he has to

maintain just 140 characters. >> his responses are going to be his responses which don't tend to be short. i don't think he does a lot in 140 characters. 27 days away, america may not longer be able to pay all of its bills. a real crisis could send shock waves through the global markets. tomorrow, president obama will hold negotiations at the white house. >> it's my hope that everybody is going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we will all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we are going to do what is best for our economy and do what is best for our people. >> joining me now is david frum, an editor from forum.com. megan is an editor for "the atlantic." thank you for joining us. megan, increasing criticism of the way republicans, conservatives, and tea party influence members of congress are handling these negotiations. there's some sense that

democrats have started to make some moves. republicans are making no moves whatsoever. what is your take on this? >> well, i think at this point, we really don't know whether this is just, you know, a tough negotiating strategy or whether they are actually serious and they have no intention of moving off of their position, which is no revenue increases whatsoever. even things like getting rid of the ethanol tax credit which most people pretty much agree is a terrible idea. i mean, if it's the former, then it's sort of difficult and i think the democrats are going to be really angry about it, but probably eventually we will get to a deal. if it's the lat, that is really ill for the future. >> i keep trying to remind people, david, that guessing about what effect this is going to have on the global economy is a tough one. we guessed wrong on lehman brothers and it caused a near global meltdown. what is your take on what conservatives need to do? >> look. we have to make a deal. i don't think it is possible to underestimate how very bad -- we

can't call it a default because maybe the debt will be paid but other obligations won't be paid. if you're a state that is medicaid bills, you won't be played. your suppliers won't be paid. what republicans need to make sure is this event doesn't happen 37 this whole process shouldn't be happening. there are important things to be done on reducing the long-term indebtedness of the united states but the right now, the debt is not the country's biggest problem. right now, unemployment at 10% and interest rates at 1%, it is jobs, not debt that is the biggest problem and how we got distracted from that, i do not understand. >> what has to happen here in the party? because some people are saying, some republicans are saying we have got to stick to our -- we have to do what our constituents want us to see and the democrats are trying to break that. in particular, this idea, david brooks wrote about this yesterday. the idea they can agree to tens and hundreds of millions in tax increases in exchange for holding the democrats and the

president to trillions of dollars of tax cuts. david, why won't they take a deal like that? >> not all constituents are created equal. one of the examples is hedge funds should be taxed at income tax rates of 30% plus or taxed long-term capital gains rate at 15%. now that is a small but very important republican constituency. it's important democratic constituency too. if you want to get to long-term balance, there are going to be some places where more money has to be raised because you cannot, given the severity of the debt crisis, you cannot get out of this debt alone by squeezing programs that have enormous political constituencies behind them. >> megan, let me ask you this this. i have to think what happened in greece, the greek parliament they had to make a decision because they were sqesed into it to say it doesn't matter what the constituents think at this point. really only one road out of this. >> i think the real issue here is it has to be a bipartisan

deal. i'm not sure the republican base is ready to commit that. the fact doing these difficult deals requires in america, requires people to reach across the aisle and for each party to have their fingerprints all over the result. >> i think i agree with you there. practically speaking, we have 27 days and isn't 27 days to make a decision but 27 days to make a decision and get the enabling legislation in place. practically speaking, what will move them? what is the thing that is going to cause republicans to come in and say, let's get this done? is it obama inviting them to the white house tomorrow? >> i don't think it's going to be obama inviting them to the white house. he hasn't had a lot of success with that move in the past. i think it's either going to be this is a negotiating strategy, they are basically going to sort of move in time for boehner to whip the votes. they have to gather up the votes and that takes time. it happened with obamacare and something the republicans wanted to do. this is something the republicans aren't going to.

even beyond that, we have this very short time frame and you're going to have to decide fairly soon. i think that what may be required is that we're going to have to see some sort of movement, either in the bond markets or the stock markets as we did with passing the emergency rescue in 2008. >> that may yet come -- >> that is what moved them. >> david, all constituents are not made equal you said. for fiscal conservatives who realize long-term spending cuts and possibly real reform to the tax code and maybe that means higher taxes, maybe it means lower taxes, but everybody has to pay them. whatever it is, for that to happen, it's more important to make a deal than risk the economy. what do both conservatives and democrats have to do to get those hard liners to the table? >> on the conservative side, the concession, obviously, has to come is concessions on deductions and credits. it isn't clear why people deduct

a million dollars are a house. here is something democrats need to do. one of the things republicans are really worried about is obama secretly hopes when the bush tax cuts expire as they are scheduled to do in 2012 that are be his real answer to this problem. removing that threat saying we are going to have a long-term deal on taxes as well as spending so we don't take the tax rates up to 40% and equalize the way the healthy people are taxed the hedge funds managers it's easier to get them from 25 to 30 than from 15 to 40. >> david and megan, thank you both. still ahead this morning, our headlines. plus what you would say is humanity's great tap resource? the first female president of chili talks women rights in an

unfinished revolution. it's 45 minutes past the hour. the possibilities are dless. inin.. to tuesday and wednesday only. hotels.combe smart. book smart.

47 minutes after the hour. casey anthony specked to be sentenced to time served after found guilty on four counts of lying to police. if that happens at her sentencing hearing tomorrow, tloin could leave court a free woman. she was acquitted of murder and child abuse and in the death of

her daughter caylee. a scandal may have helped kids from getting the extra help they had need. atlanta schools cheating on state standardized tests and faking scores to show fake improvement. investigators say 178 teachers and principals were involved. more than 80 have already confessed. near hurricane force winds kicking up in the desert. a massive sandstorm. str stretching 50 miles. 42,000 gallons leaked from an exxonmobil pipeline last friday in wyoming and still not clear what caused that spill. markets open in 45 minutes. stock futures trading down ahead of the opening bell. today, facebook to unveil an

awesome thing. it may be where you can skype to your facebook friends. the international olympic committee will make the selection at ven a.m. eastern time. the three competing cities are munich, germany, annecy, france, and pyeondchang, north korea.

uns happily seems to be that progress has been made but there still is a lot of work to be done. this morning, we are joined by michelle bachelet, the former president of chile, now the director of u.s. women. thanks for joining us this morning. an honor to have you with us. when we take a look at the report as a whole, where have we seen progress in your opinion and where are the big gest challenges they found in the world. >> we thought women could only vote in two countries. if you see, for example, some specific issues like domestic violence, you have more than 125 countries who have laws that clearly establish that this is a crime. if you go to many different areas, you will see a lot of laws. still, there is a huge gap on implementation of those laws. i would say in the whole world, we still have a lot of gaps in terms of ensuring complete

access to justice. even the more developed countries. in developed countries, sometimes you have important gaps in salary, for example, with men and women. >> the pay and equality issue. let me ask you about that. you highlight the fact there is still 10% to 30% less on average women getting paid. take a look at a country like the united states that prides itself on gender equality, you're at 23% pay gap between men and women. it's 28% in canada. what are the biggest reasons behind that? >> well, first of all, in most of these countries, you still have laws that prohibit gaps. but i think the main reasons are a lot of different factors. one of the capacity of women to negotiate their salary conditions. second, usually when women are in a reproductive age. usually, there is a risk of hiring less women. second, you have less women in top decision-making decisions, so women, we have still few

parliamentarian female in the u.s., like 14% of all parliamentarians and so on. what you find is you're lacking of more gender responsive laws or you're lacking on a more women in very important position to ensure that this kind of situation do not happen. >> and for people that are sitting at home wondering why is it so vital that women are able to reach their full potential, especially in developing countries around the world, why is that notion of gender equality so vital? >> well, first of all, we talk about salary and economic contribution. women are very important factor in the economy. they really important drivers of the economy in many comras plac places. women can be great caregivers and so on. in the developing world when you think labor force in many parts of africa, for example, 80, 85%

of the agriculture labor force are women. but, for example, they have only 2% of land rights. they have a lot of difficulties in accessing, you know, technical support, water supply, storage capacity. so it is essential. everybody says, you know, if you really want to ensure a world where the minimal development possibilities are there, women has to be in power. women have to have equality. still, we are lagging behind. >> we are not talking about basically human rights. everybody understands hopefully, the importance of basic human righ rights. as an economic survivor, you are seeing a global struggle going on with employment. on and on. i thought it was interesting your report em ares that some countries perhaps have quotas on the amount of women that have to be legislators in countries. why is it so important for females to be the lawmakers in some of these countries? >> you know, 50 years ago, it

was already stated that unless you have more than 30%, at least 30, and hopefully a little bit better than that, you don't have laws that really represent women needs, women concerns. and particularly do not include the clear evidence that when women had to confront the situation, they usually have a bigger impact or they have more difficulties or more obstacles. we see it in normal days, we see it in conflict countries. even a conflict affects everybody. women are particularly have particular and specific challenges. so that's why so important to have more women in all decision-making positions. in parliament because you can ensure that the laws really reflect the needs, the concerns, the priority of women. >> you, obviously, a trailblazer yourself. the first female president of chile. you played a key role in helping with social change around the world. one other concerns is the education rates. in some countries it's not a priority for women to learn as much as it is for men.

how do you change that mindset? >> i think this is one of our main priorities. not only as women but the whole u.s. system. everybody knows. particularly in the region of the americas. studies show that the future of a child is completely directly related to the level of the education of the mother. that is the more important factor. we need to work with governments to ensure that they give opportunities of education, because, you know, even though the gap between boys and girls, the ratio has diminished in terms of girls do they have more access to education, still, there are huge gaps. second, the quality of education. we need to ensure that countries understand not only the right thing to do, but also the start smart thing to do to ensure women's education and women's rights. >> michelle bachelet, former president of chile, thanks for coming on. >> thank you. >> take a break. and a choice. take tylenol arthritis and maybe up to six in a day...

or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. happy chopping.

casey anthony returns to court tomorrow. she is ready to walk free after being acquitted of murder clargs a charges of her 2-year-old daughter caylee. >> our question of the day, here are some of your responses this morning. from twitter, you know, not bad defense, not poor prosecution. simply a lack of evidence. >> dan writes i thought her defense was excellent at laying out what evidence they had. however, it goes back to the at